Last month, Sony announced its intentions to unleash two "smart outlets" on the world that would use NFC and RFID to authenticate users and monitor electricity consumption on a micro level. While it may someday be handy for charging up electric cars, in the near-term it's more likely that in the near future, you'll be paying hard cash to juice up your phone at the airport. Which, hey, pretty awful!

Is this a ineffective tent with a hole at the top? Of course not. Maybe it's lasers shooting out of an angry pimple? That's even farther off. Perhaps it's a barnacle with slimy arms clinging to a ship's hull for dear life? Not quite, but close. The answer is a lot more historical than that.